- BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia waves at supporters after arriving at a makeshift court in Dhaka’s Bakshibazar yesterday to appear in two graft cases
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday appeared before a Dhaka court in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust cases filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Khaleda, also former prime minister, appeared before the makeshift court at Bakshibazar around 10:30am amid tight security.
At the beginning of the hearing, Khaleda’s counsels submitted two petitions seeking adjournment of yesterday’s trial proceedings.
One of the two petitions said Khaleda had submitted a writ petition with the High Court for scrapping of the complainant’s deposition in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case which is now pending.
Khaleda’s counsel, in the other petition, sought adjournment of the Zia Charitable Trust case mentioning that they were not prepared for cross-examination.
During the hearing, defence counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain said the case was filed out of a political vendetta.
“Had the judiciary system been independent in the country the case would have been quashed as soon as the it began,” he said.
Another defence counsel AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon said the media was terming the cases as “graft case.” He appealed to the court to warn the media not to label it as a corruption case.
Opposing the adjournment pleas, ACC Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol told the court that there was no legal bar to begin recording the deposition and cross-examination in the two cases.
After the hearing of both sides Judge Abu Ahmed Jomadar of the Special Judge Court-3 granted the first petition but rejected the second plea and directed the defence counsels to start cross-examination in the Charitable Trust Case.
On behalf of Khaleda, Counsel Khandakar Mahbub Hossain cross-examined ACC Deputy Director Harun-ur-Rashid who completed his testimony as the plaintiff in the Zia Charitable Trust case in the presence of Khaleda Zia on May 25.
Following the request of the defence, the court adjourned trial proceedings till July 23 after recording partial cross-examination of the plaintiff in the case.
In 2009, the ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against Khaleda, her son Tarique Rahman and four others for embezzlement of over Tk2.1 crore by forming a “fake” trust which existed only on paper.
The anti-graft watchdog filed another case in 2011, accusing four persons, including Khaleda Zia, of abusing power in setting up the Zia Charitable Trust.
The other accused are Ziaur Rahman’s nephew Mominur Rahman, Khaleda’s former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, BNP former lawmaker Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed, Harris Chowdhury, Ziaul Islam Munna, and Monirul Islam Khan.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
